FileKenny RoweEUGENE - It's rare these days in football when a defensive end doesn't celebrate a quarterback sack with a dance or a lot of look-at-me woofing.

The antidote to the madness: Oregon senior Kenny Rowe.

Ducks defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti said Rowe "never said much to anybody. At least he talks a little now." Oregon defensive end Terrell Turner, who has known Rowe since middle school, said his teammate is known as "The Quiet Storm."

"He's quiet, but then before you know it, he's on top of you," Turner said.

If there's something where Rowe is willing to open up, it's his run defense. Rowe says it's been a personal major point of emphasis this spring, because he wants to be known as a complete player rather than a sackmaster, not to mention that it will enhance his NFL stock.

"Last year, I was all right, but I could have done better," said Rowe, a classic letting his actions speak for himself-type player. By the time Rowe is finished at Oregon, those actions could place him among the most prolific defensive ends in school history.

Over a two-season period during the past 30 years, Oregon's two most productive players in terms of quarterback sacks are Nick Reed and Ernest Jones. Reed had 25 sacks during the 2007-08 seasons, while Jones had 24 in 1992-93.

Rowe is on pace to join those two. Last season, Rowe led the Pac-10 with 11 1/2 sacks, a number he topped with a record-tying three-sack performance against Ohio State in the Rose Bowl.

Asked if the 6-foot-3, 230-pound Rowe reminds him of any former Ducks, Aliotti said Reed and Jones.

Imagine that.

"Those guys were good in space and pseudo linebacker-rush ends. I'd liken him to those guys," Aliotti said.

Turner has played with Rowe and Reed, now with the Seattle Seahawks.

"They're almost the same. Nick Reed probably has a few more tools because he's stronger in the run game, not that Kenny is weak in the run game," Turner said.

Getting to the quarterback is just part of Rowe's game. He often drops into pass coverage. Aliotti thinks Rowe could significantly improve in whatever he does if he would just bend his knees.

"If he would learn how to bend his knees in space, he'll make a lot more plays," Aliotti said. "A lot of times he'll get back there in position, but he's straight-legged. That's one thing I'm always on him about."

Is bending your knees hard to do?

"If you haven't been a knee-bender all your life, it could be, but it shouldn't be that hard," Aliotti said.

One area where there are no plans to remake or improve Rowe is communication. Though he's a senior and expected to be one of the leaders on defense in 2010, don't expect Rowe to suddenly become verbal and demonstrative.

"That's just not Kenny," Aliotti said. "He knows the system and he plays hard. You want him to be a leader, but as long as he does it by his actions, that's what we can expect from him."

That goes for Rowe off the field, too.

"Me and (offensive lineman) Darrion Weems are always freestyling, and Kenny is always the one in the back, saying like two words," Turner said. "But he's always laughing."

Rowe made his debut as a starter last season, but after his prolific accomplishments is unlikely to go unnoticed by opponents in 2010. Inside the numbers last year, Rowe had four games with at least two sacks, and in nine of the Ducks' 13 games, had at least a partial tackle behind the line of scrimmage.

Rowe figures to land on a number of preseason all-star teams in months to come; just last week, he was one of eight Pac-10 defenders named to the watch list for the national 2010 Lott Award.